The First Duel-Quidditch
by lisa-loves-english
Summary: Severus Snape has a crush on Lily Evans, but lackself-confidence. James Potter who's in the same house with Lily is talented in Quidditch, which Lily admires. Severus works hard to win the heaart of his beloved girl.


A Fan Fiction for Harry Potter

Chapter 1

The First Duel - Quidditch

"Cool! Look at Potter go! His flying skills are fantastic!" Lily Evans cried out, going red in the face at the same time. Hastily picking himself up from the ground, where he had just lost his balance on the flying broomstick, Severus Snape ignored Lily's compliments on James Potter as James threw a high-five towards his best friend, Sirius Black after didn't even bother to pat the dirt off his wrinkled and grass-stained cloak as he stood and glared at the back of James's head in envy. Gripping the broomstick so fiercely that his knuckles had turned white, Severus muttered under his breath "Talented at flying huh! Who cares." But deep in his heart, he wished that he was a talented flyer too.

"Did you see him?" Lily squealed with excite, "Did you see James fly, Severus? It's amazing!" "No! I was too busy myself." Snapped Severus, and stumped off, heading back towards the dorm. He couldn't believe his luck, it was the first flying class of the term and Slytherin was taking classes with Gryffindor together. James not only showed off his great flying skills, but also won the hearts of many girls!

Later that evening, after everyone has finished their dinner, loads of people crowded into the hall way to head back to their dorms. Just as Severus was being squished uncomfortably from both sides, he recognized a voice not far from him, blabbering away on James's handsome look and talented flying skills. Disgusted at the topic, Severus threw an unnoticed glare at her direction and continued walking at a snail's pace towards his dorm. "You know what! James was chosen immediately to play for our house in this year's Quidditch games. And he's the seeker too! The youngest one ever in Hogwarts!" exclaimed the girl. "Did you see how excited Lily got when seeing James fly?" the girl continued to her friend, "I think she has a crush on him. They look like a well-matched couple" giggled the girl.

Hearing this, Severus froze like a stone. As the girl's words rang in his ears, he felt as if Peeves had dumped a whole bucket of water over his head, drenching him from head to toe. Ignoring the dark looks and protests from the other students, he marched abruptly in the opposite direction from everybody else and squeezed his way outside the castle. Gasping in big gulps of fresh air once he made his way out, Severus leaned onto the cold stone wall to rest his throbbing and buzzing head. "No way, this couldn't possibly be true!" Severus thought wildly, "Lily isn't that kind of girl. She wouldn't have a crush on someone just because he flies well." The sight of Lily's sparkling eyes and her reactions toward James in the daytime came back in front of Severus's eyes. Shaking his head sadly, Severus started to head back. Suddenly, an idea striked him and after a moments hesitation, he decided to give it a try.

The chest where the school kept the quidditch balls were not difficult to steal, with a flick of wand and a mutter of spells, he had the box tucked tightly under his arms. Then Severus sat unconsciously in the shadow of the castle and stared at the motionless school broomstick at his feet so hard that he felt as if his eyeballs were going to pop out. It wasn't until the lights vanishing from behind the windows as the other students climbed into their warm beds, that Severus finally moved. A shaky slender hand slowly reached towards the lock on the chest, but shrank back in fear as the chest suddenly made a violent shook, as if there's something locked inside and wants to be freed desperately. Eyeing the chest suspiciously for about a minute, Severus finally makes up his mind to open it. With the words "Alohomora" the lid flew open in such a great force that the chest almost flipped over. Skipping this little detail, Severus unlocked one of the bludgers determinedly, but regretted this move almost right after.

"Woosh", Severus felt a gush of wind flew past his ear. In no time, the bludger was zigzagging all around him. After hovering in the air for a few seconds, the bludger rocketed down aiming right at his head. Dodging narrowly from the crazy bludger, Severus ran for cover with his hands high up in the air, slipping now and then on the slippery grass. Oh, how Severus wished he had never touched the Quidditch balls, but everything was too late, there seems nothing to stop the bludger from trying to crack his head open. His legs felt like lead, his heart was beating so fast that he felt as if it's going to tore out his chest any second. Finally, Severus couldn't stand it any longer and his knees collapsed under him. Reacting distinctively, Severus raised his wanded arm and panted out the first freezing spell that popped out in his brain, to his surprise, the bludger hang lifelessly in the midnight sky like a lunar eclipse. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, Severus watched his chest heave up and down as he tried to calm himself down.

"This is not going to work," he thought bitterly, "if I go on like this, I'll never beat him on Quidditch!" Spatting angrily on the ground, Severus grabbed the bludger and tied it tightly back into the box. "I'll come up with something else tomorrow, maybe putting spells on big rocks will help" he thought as he yawned widely. "Potter, you just wait! " Severus muttered as he climbed into his own warm bed and drifted off to sleep.

"What did you do last night?" exclaimed Lily, after a quick glance at his disastrous robe, "Did you get into a fight? Why is your robe so muddy?" "Of course not!" snapped Severus, "I was doing some experiments near the forbidden forest, that's all" he lied. "Really? It's dangerous in the forbidden forest, you should keep away from it." Lily replied concerned. "It's all right! I can look after myself" Severus muttered turning his head away from Lily at the same time, so that she wouldn't see the guilt on his face.

They walked in complete silent after this conversation. Severus opened his mouth several times and tried to ask her about her feelings toward James, but the words wouldn't come out. Finally, lowering his head to hide his blushing face, Severus cleared his throat, "I..er, I.. um.." "Yes" replied Lily, waiting for his sentence to get out. "I.. I just wanted to know, er, know whether..uh.."Severus's mouth suddenly went dry and he couldn't finish up his sentence. "What?" asked Lily, "Nothing, I'll see you after class" muttered Severus as he dashed down the corridor to escape from the embarrassing scene.

That midnight, Severus sneaked out on his own again into the Quidditch field, this time instead of stealing the Quidditch ball chest, he picked two rocks as big as pumpkins from the side of the forbidden forest and casted spells on them in place of the bludgers. In order to be more skillful at dodging, he made the speed of the rocks faster than the original bludgers. The thought was good, but Severus regretted it the second he took off from the ground. The rocks are way too fast for an unskilled flyer like him. But he didn't change the speed of the rocks, nor did he give up.

Severus's mind is made up and he know for sure that he will definitely not let Potter win the Quidditch match in two weeks time. Clenching his teeth and gripping the broomstick hard, Severus tried his best to dodge the two rocketing "bombs". However, dodging two bludgers in daytime is already hard enough, trying to dodge two faster enchanted rocks in the shadow of the night seemed like trying to fish the moon.

"Oof...uhh...ouch!" Severus grunted as he got slammed several times by the rocks. It wasn't until one rock finally struck hard onto his stomach and made him lost his balance that Severus finally stopped for a rest. Crouching with his arms covering his stomach, Severus encourages himself "No pain no gain, so suck it up and go on."

The next morning, it took several minutes for Severus to get out of bed, for he felt as if his bones has collapsed. Pulling his painfully bruced body, Severus trudged his way to the dining hall. However, the first glance he made towards the Gryffindor table made his heart skip a beat, for Lily was laughing happily with James and his friends. He felt something shattered inside him and the whole table of delicious breakfast in front of him suddenly seemed tasteless. After washing down a piece of bread with a cup of pumpkin juice, Severus made his way quickly to class alone.

He did everything alone that day in silent, he didn't even go find Lily. In fact, he tried very hard to stay away from her by going the long way around the corridors just to skip her usual routes for classes. By midnight, Severus sat aimlessly on the Quidditch field, staring into the hollow sky. He had just got a little hang of dodging from yesterday's practice, after what he saw today made him want to quit. To make matters worse, Severus's body hurts all over.

Just as he was about to get up and head back to his dorm, Lily's sweet and gentle smile floated into his head. Severus felt the flame flaring up once again in his chest and by no time, he was up onto his feet and took off into the midnight sky on the broomstick. "No way I'm letting you go on this Potter" Severus thought grimly, "I can fly just as well as you can, maybe even better." Now, if he had looked up at one of the towers, he would see a pair of brilliant green eyes blinking down at him. But he didn't, he's working too hard on his flying skills to notice.

The next night, as Severus finished the first round of practice and sitting on the soft green grass while panting heavily into the cool night air, out of the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of a tiny bottle lying near his fingertips. Taking a closer look, he recognized the bottle. He had seen it in the school's hospital before, it's for curing cuts and bruces. How funny, he thought. Did someone drop it here during daytime by accident or did someone put it here on purpose? Looking around wildly, he saw nobody. After inspecting the medicine carefully and even smelling the odor, Severus found nothing suspicious. So he pulled his head back and took every drop of the medicine in two big gulps.

The pair of green eyes that appeared yesterday was there blinking behind the same window again. A satisfied smile floated across the owner's face as Severus drank the medicine. At the same time, a funny feeling ran down Severus's spine, looking up at the towers, Severus saw nothing, for the pair of eyes has disappeared. Picking himself up from the ground and shaking off the queery feeling, Severus started on the second round of practice.

Severus continued practicing night after night, and the supply of the tiny bottle of medicine never stopped. At first Severus was quite cautious towards the potion, but as time went on, he got used to the gift appearing everyday and treated it as a present from god. After days of practice, Severus had expertized in dodging and reacting fast, now he's practicing speed diving to meet the skills of a seeker. Furthermore, Severus had talked to the Quidditch captain of his house and proved to be a potential seeker. His captain even agreed to let him play in the match against Gryffindor as a seeker. This is definitely great news for him, but Severus is still not confident playing James, he needs more practice.

Time passed by quickly and the day of the big match arrived at last. As the two teams headed towards the Quidditch field, Severus caught a glimpse of James's polished broomstick which was one of the best brand. Looking down at his own shabby broomstick, Severus felt like crying. "Hey Snivellus," James called out with a smirk, "I can't wait to beat you down." Opening his mouth, Severus found no words to refute back. All he can do is to glare at James's back and swear under his breath. Then Severus felt a hand on his shoulder, "Wow, Severus, I didn't know you're the seeker of your house. You must fly well." exclaimed Lily. Her soothing words and the warmth that passed through her hand relighted up his hope and encouragement. Striding with his head up and a determined face, Severus stepped into the Quidditch field.

The audience roared with excitement as the two teams' captain shook hands. With the sound of a whistle, all the players took off and started to zoom about in the clear blue sky. The sun was blazing over their heads and soon beads of sweat begin to appear on their foreheads. Even though Severus is used to flying in the cool night breeze, he ignored the heat and tried to focus on searching for the tiny snitch. James flew past him laughing "Don't get too high Snivellus, be careful to not get your broomstick tail burnt!" Scowling, Severus flew aimlessly in circles, ignoring James's taunted remarks, for he know that there's no time for him to start bickering, he need to find the damn snitch soon.

As time passed on, Severus started to get jumpy and once he thought that he caught sight of the snitch, but it turned out to be only the reflection of someone's watch. He got so excited for nothing and the scores are now eighty to forty with Gryffindor on the lead. "Come on! Where are you snitch!" Severus thought desperately. He is starting to get dizzy and weary with the audience roaring and commentator reporting ringing around his ears, as well as trying to keep watch on James's movements at the same time.

To make matters worse, he felt as if he's been toasted by the flaring sun. Licking his dried lips, Severus came to a stop and took several deep breaths to calm down. There's no point tailing James, for he's having trouble finding the snitch as well. Furthermore, he need to be more focused and block out all the distractions. Closing his eyes, Severus three deep breaths and waited a few more seconds before reopening his eyes. This time, he felt differently. His eyes are squinting for the golden flash of the tiny snitch and his ears are open for the slight sound of the cluster of wings from the snitch.

It wasn't long before he caught sight of the tiny speck of gold, hovering near the ground. With his heart pounding hard in his chest, Severus took a steep dive. Seeing this, James dived quickly as well. They both had their arms stretched out, reaching for the snitch. The snitch however, not wanting to be caught, stopped hovering and shot straight upwards, right past them. Both pulling hard at their broomsticks, Severus and James stopped diving and started to rocket upwards, right after the snitch. James, who has a better broomstick flew faster and soon became half a broomstick ahead of Severus.

Severus's heart dropped. He knew very well that if he wanted to catch the snitch, he need to come up with something fast in order to make up for the slower speed. The snitch was now circling around the other players and Severus saw his chance. This is the time where his dodging practices has finally come to use. The audiences are all on their feet now, cheering for the two seekers, some of the players even stopped to watch.

Most people had already seen James's flying skills, however, nobody know how well Severus can fly, except for one person in particular perhaps and now everyone gets to see the result of Severus's two weeks secretive training. Severus took no notice of anyone else, he had his eyes glued onto the tiny speck of gold in front of him.

Everyone stared dumbstruck and awed as Severus Flipped and rolled away fluently when dodging all the players in his way. His excellent performance won him lots of whistles and rounds of applause, but he took no notice, for he's too focused on dodging and trying to catch the snitch. Once he came so close to a Gryffindor player before taking a sharp turn that she shrieked out loud. By the time he made his way out of the crowd of players, he was three feet ahead of James. Diving madly, Severus flattened himself onto the stick of his broom with his arm stretched as far as it can go and with James close at his heels.

To make up for the slower speed, Severus made a steeper dive this time. As he expected, James didn't have enough time to catch up. Severus's fingers closed around the tiny golden ball and he pulled to an abrupt stop, holding his arm high in the air. He could feel the tickling of the wings as the snitch flapped helplessly in his clenched fist. He could see the Slytherins cheering and jumping in celebration of the winning.

His effort finally paid off. Severus is so excited that he wanted to scream. His teammates gave him high-fives and thumped him on the back. The most important of all, Lily came down into the field to congratulate him. Heart pounding, breath quickening, Severus waited for Lily to speak. "What an awesome game you just played Severus! I've never seen anything so exciting before." Lily cried out happily, giving Severus a big hug at the same time.

Then whispering softly into his ear, she declared, "I see your work paid off." "Wh..What?" Severus murmured, staring at her blankly. "The efforts you made through the night of the past two weeks paid off." repeated Lily, a little louder this time. "And my medical potion made their values as well." Lily added. Severus's mouth fell open in surprise. He never considered that it was Lily who encouraged him secretly when he's in the pit of his life. Before, he can utter another word, Lily closed her mouth lightly on his. Bewildered at her action, Severus's eyes widened in surprise, recovering quickly, he embraced her warmly and closed his eyes.


End file.
